Our bond is unbreakable
by BabyRue11
Summary: Jute is reaped along with his best friend Ana, who will make it out alive, or will neither of them. Who will sacrifice themselves for who? Who will betray who? Find out in the 98th hunger games.
1. Chapter 1

"Ana and me."

I walk out of the factory with my best friend Ana, we have known eachother for years now. My brother and father are working late and Ana is scared of walking alone at night.  
"Judy.." Ana grabs my arm and lays her head against me.  
Despite her having smog all over her face, she still looked pretty. "What?" I say as a smile at her.  
"Look," She says quietly as she points at a few boys, obviously they were in a gang. "Don't worry about them, I'll protect you," Luckily, they didn't notice us walking by.  
After a minute of silence Ana says, "Judy.. you are so kind."  
"Huh?" I raise an eyebrow, thinking that was out of nowhere.  
"I mean, you always stick up for me and help me feel better when I'm sad... *most people in this district aren't like you*."  
I feel my cheeks get warmer and I do a big toothy grin.  
"Well, thank you."  
After all that talking I didn't even realize we were really close to Ana's house.  
"Aww, I have to go now.." She let's go of me while frowning.  
I sigh and put my hands in my pockets. Ana knocks on the door, her elder sister soon comes to the door. "Finally. Took you long enough." Her sister, Thread says while looking down at her.  
Ana quickly turns to face me, she hugs me tight and says "Bye Judy, I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for walking me home."  
I hug her back and smile "Anytime."  
Ana lets go and hurrys into her house, shutting the door behind her. I walk home fast, it's cold and I'm starving. I make it home and open the door, yelling "Mother, i'm home!"  
My mother runs to me and hugs me, she always does. Like she's afraid to lose me or something. "Judy, you are so dirty," She warmly smiles at me and rubs my cheek. "Yeah. I'll get in the tub after I eat." I smile back at her. I look at the table and see that it's just broth and bread, probably stale too. My mother has a look of sadness in her eyes "Sorry..this is all we have."  
"It's okay mom. I promise." I reassure her as I sit down. The broth was mostly water and I can tell by touching the bread that it was stale. I try to look happy anyways and gobble down my food.  
"It dosent taste that bad," I say while wiping broth off my chin. Even though I was longing for more, I didn't want to make my mother feel bad by demanding more. "You don't have to lie to me Judy." She says while she walks towards her small tiny room. I frown and put my bowl in the sink.  
I soon walk to the tub, it was wooden and uncomfortable. We had to get water to bathe in from the tap. I take off my clothes and get in the tub, I scrub myself clean as quick as I can. I just hate bathing for a long time. I get out of the tub and I feel alot cleaner, I look alot cleaner too. I put on my old beat up pajamas and go to my room, me and my brother share it. I got into my bed, realising that reaping day was tomorrow. I had honestly forgot, I usually have my mind on so much. I just hope it isn't anyone I know, it may be wrong but I rather it be someone elses love ones then mine. I sigh and soon drift off into a deep sleep. 


	2. Reaping day

Reaping day

"Hey Judy wake up!" My brother shakes me awake, the bastard.

I yawn and groan "Okay dammit!" I get up and walk into the living while groaning, I'm definitely not a morning person.

My brother was right behind me. I looked at him and he had a look of sorrow in his eyes. I then remembered it was reaping day and I got a awful feeling in my stomach. I made a sour face.

"Hey Judy, try not to think about the reaping too much." My brother read my mind and put his hand on my shoulder.

"How can I not?! Two kids in our district are going to die. It could be someone we know." He takes his hand off of me and sighs.

My mother look at us "Philly! Judy! Your father brought home extra money!" She looked so happy, it made me smile. She dosent look this happy that often. Especially on reaping day.

My brother asks, "Is papa up in his room?"

My mother nods, still smiling "Yes you know he's tired after a long hard day of work." She pauses for a second. "How about you two boys go and buy some breakfast!" She quickly handed my brother the money.

"Okay mom." Me and my brother say at the same time. We both say jinx and laugh. Forgetting about what's going to happen in a few hours.

As we walk out the door my mother yells "Stay safe! I love you!"  
I shout back "We love you too mom!" My brother closes the door.

I look up at the sky, it was dark and smoggy. I'm pretty much use to it, but Philly hates it.

My brother breaks me out of my thought, "What do you think we should get to eat?"

I shake my head. "Uhh.. fresh bread and eggs! Ooh and bacon!" My mouth watered just thinking about it. It's alot better then the stew or broth we usually eat.

"Alright don't get too carried away. We don't want to spend ALL the money."

I see a few of my friends along the way, we chit chat a bit and move on. I'm not as close with them as I am Ana...I've known her before I could talk.

In a few seconds we are at the little shop. My brother pushes the door in and goes to the counter, I follow him.

"What do you two hooligans want?"  
I guess he said that because of our clothes. I mean we look pretty beat up and he looked alot nicer then us.

"Hey man.." My brother gets that look in his eyes that means you're about to get put in your place. I just watch. I'm a bit worried.

The guy just rolls his eyes and says firmly, "What the hell do you want?"

My brother just shakes his head and with an attitude says, "I want fresh bread, eggs, and bacon." He holds out the currency In his hands.

"That will be 50 currency son." The guy holds out his hand.

My brother quickly counts it and gives most of our currency over.

The guy leaves. I look at my brother and he looks at me. I say, "Wow that guy is an asshole." "I know. I hate the upper people. They think they are better then everyone." My brother says with hatred in his voice.

I just shake my head "Yeah.. they are pretty rude." Our conversation gets cut short because the man came back with a brown bag. He hands it over to my brother.

We walk away and he stares at us. I can feel it as we walk out the door. I'm glad too be out of that shop, I didn't like the atmosphere.

I look at my brother and touch his dull, lifeless brown hair. He looks at me "What?" "Cheer up, let's not let that dumb guy ruin our breakfast."

"I'm not mad about that anymore." He looks at the peacekeepers walking by, there was alot more of them. Then I remember again that it's reaping day and it weighs on me. I make a sour face, "I don't want to think about that." My brother just sighs.

Soon we were alot closer to home. I noticed that there wasn't many kids outside, they must be all indoors because of what's happening.

We walk the rest of the way home in silence. We walk in my house and my mother jolts around to look at us, she runs to hug us. I hug her back tightly and so does my brother. She laughs and wheezes, "I'm suffocating!"  
_

My mother had finished making breakfast and the food smelt so good. She starts talking to me. "Can you go fetch your father for me?" Next she turns to my brother and says something, but by that time I was already walking away.

I open my parents door and I jump on his bed, it shakes and makes a pitiful nose. "Papa! Wake up!" I smile and hug him. He just snores and turns over while squinting.

"Papa! WAKE UP!" He jolts up and his eyes are red "Dammit Judy! What the hell do you want?!" I frown, slightly hurt. "Mom has made some breakfast.." My dad rubs his head "Ohh.. sorry for yelling at you. I love you." He kisses me on the cheek and I smile again "I love you too, papa."

He gets up and puts some pajama pants on. We both walk down into the kitchen and the table is already set. My mother and father kiss, I wasn't paying much attention though. I was staring at the delicious food.

I sit at the table next to my brother and grin. He is already shoving the food in his mouth. My dad and my mom keep talking, soon they take a seat. I'm already shoving the food down my mouth, almost choking. It was so good.. I love eggs and bacon.

My mother raises her voice at me "Judy slow down before you choke!" My brother pats my back hard and I yelp. I swallow my food and hit him on the shoulder.

My dad says in a groan.."Boys! Behave!" We both smirk and keep eating. My dad says to my mother. "This tastes so good honey."

We soon finish eating and my mother washes the dishes.  
"You boys need to get your clothes out." My dad says while running his fingers through my dark brown hair.

"Yes sir." We both run to our room and search through our dressers.I pull out a collard shirt and pants, they looked old. They were my brothers hand-me-downs but I didn't really care.

"Hey Judy what should I wear? The suit or a shirt and pants?" I turn around and the clothes, "The suit." The suit didn't look that great, but it was alot better then the shirt and pants.

We put our clothes on and make our way downstairs. Our mother comes up to us and she squeezes my cheeks like I'm a baby. "You two look so handsome.." She sighs and tears up.

"I love you." I say and hug her, but it only makes the tears fall. "Don't worry about me, I'm just getting emotional.." My father comes over and wipes the tears from my mothers face.

My father soon has my mother in an embrace and he looks at me and my brother and says. "Boys, you know what time it is." He sighs.

My brother grabs my arm and he pulls me out the door, our mother and father following. We don't say anything until we get to the crowd of other children walking to get their fingers pricked.

Soon our parents separate from us and we were waiting in line, "Philly, I hate getting my finger pricked." I pout and stick my bottom lip out. He crosses his arms, "I'm not much of a fan of it either."

In a few minutes I see my brother get his finger pricked, he winces and walks over to the 16 year old section. I close my eyes and brace myself for the pain, it was over quickly but still hurt.

I look at my brother one last time and make my way to the 13 year old section. The other kids are very nervous, many of them shaking. I myself am very nervous. I try to talk to them to make time go faster so this could end already.

Soon the escort walks out of the justice building. Sunshine Pinket. It was no wonder why her parents named her that, her skin glowed. But she had awful makeup and really bright poofy pink hair. It must have to her a long time to get ready.

I'm broke out of my thoughts by the propaganda, that's what everyone calls it anyways. They play it every year about the 1st and 2nd rebellion. It was long and made me want to fall asleep.

Soon it finally ends. I'm day dreaming by the time it ends.

I'm broken out of it when I hear Sunshines booming voice. "Ladies and gentlemen! We are going to announce the lucky female tribute that gets to represent district 8!"

I hear someone mumble, "Lucky... how could this bitch think this is a good thing?" More people whisper after that. I chuckle, the way he said bitch was funny. "The lucky female tribute is..." She puts her hand in that dreaded bowl and moves around the names a bit, soon she picks one and reads it. "Ana Piscataway!"

My heart instantly sinks, I tear up at the thought of seeing my best friend die. I see her walk up to the stage, she was visibly crying and shaking. I wipe the tears from my eyes and just stare, not saying a word.

The escort smiles at Ana and then the crowd. "Any volunteers this year?!" Silence, like usual. No one wants to go into a fight to the death, that would be crazy. "How old are you sweet heart?" She grins, she was very excited. Anna looks at the ground and stampers. "14 y-years old."

She turns her attention to the crowd again, now for the lucky boy to represent district 8! I grabbed my chest. My heart was beating out my chest. What if I got picked? What if Philly got picked?!

Sunshine soon calls the unlucky boys name out. "Jute Marlee!" My heart sinks and I immediately start shaking. This can't be happening. This can't be happening! I hear my brother scream and cry, he never cries. I hear my mother sob.

The peacekeepers grab me and take me up there, since I was taking so long. Me and Ana make eye contact, we don't say anything but her eyes tell me that she had pity on me even though she was up there herself. Maybe it was because I'm small and short. I don't look like a victor.

I block out everything Sunshine says until she asks me how old I am and tells me to shake hands with Ana. I shake hands with her tightly, I didn't want to let go. The peacekeepers takes us into the injustice building, I kiss my life goodbye right then and there.

*I want criticism to try and improve my story. It would be appreciated and thank you for reading.*


	3. Sorrow

"Goodbyes are the worst part of the games. It takes everything out of you."

Ana's pov

When the peacekeepers take me into the room of no return, I bite my silky brown hair and tear up, "Oh, god." I say, swallowing hard with a lump in my throat.

I weap by myself for a minute or two,then my family barges in. My family wasn't very big. It was just me, my mother and my sister.

"Oh, Ana! Please come home! Please..." My sister cries while she embraces me. I muttered out while choking on my tears,"I-I'll try." My mother was crying while she had my hand on my shoulder. "I love you sweetheart. I couldn't bear to lose you..."

My sister finally let go of me. I put my hands on her cheeks, "Lacey. Mother. I love you both and I will try my damnest to come home. Don't ever forget that."

The peacekeepers barge into the room and drag my mother and sister away. They both kick and scream, but to no avail. I just try to wipe the tears away, but they still fall.

Phillip's pov

I didn't care I thought. A hundred lashes so what, this is for Jute. I went crazy and punched each peacekeeper, until they finally took me down. They put me in the square and it's the reason why I damn near passed out. They whipped me so hard, my back was dripping with dark red blood.

I lay on this table now, my mother cursing me and crying at the same time. My father doing the same. It was worth it though, no matter the horrible pain I feel. I'm never going to see Jute anymore, I wasn't even allowed to say goodbye. Mama and papa weren't even allowed to either.

You may wonder why I didn't volunteer, Jute wouldn't want me to do that. He'd probably kill me himself before those other kids did it. This means war. I was always sort of rebellious, but this pushed me over the edge.

What am I doing...I'm talking to myself. I'm delirious.. Ouch! I groan and moan because of my mothers familiar touch. I hear several people rush in, I hear my girlfriend scream and yell. Suddenly, alcohol pours on my back. It's enough to knock me out cold.

Jute's pov

Where is everybody? Why didn't my friends and family come to see me? I choke on my tears, "I wasn't even able to say goodbye.." I immediately start balling, I'm on the floor curled up and wallowing in my own sorrow.

Soon two big peacekeepers grab me roughly, I have the nerve to ask them, "Where's my family?" They say cruely, "Your stupid ass brother should have been shot along with your family, but we're feeling merciful today." My eyes widen, but before I know it I'm thrown onto a train."

I see Ana already sitting down and she runs to embrace me, but that can't even cure my sadness.

Soon a man walks up to me, he looks slightly dissaopinted and sad, "I'm your mentor. I have to teach you how to survive when the shit hits the fan." I just nod, not knowing what to say. He dosent even ask me why my eyes are red, he must be use to it.

Soon a very pretty lady walks up to Ana and they go away while talking, Ana waves goodbye to me quickly but turns back around.

My mentor sits down and I sit across from him, "So I'm guessing you know that girl personally?" "Yes... She's my best friend." "Son, there are no best friends in the games." Sunshine nods, "It happens so often that friends betray eachother in the games. It's very entertaining." I look down and start to think. Me and Ana are different, she'd never do that to me. I wouldn't do it to her either. Never.

"Ana isn't like that." My mentor snickers "Suree.. Well Jute, you better be willing to do anything to win. Or you'll be gone in a second. Do you know how I won my games?" I look at him in the eyes, "You killed all your Allies in there sleep." "Exactly, you can't trust anybody and I was just doing it before they did it to me."

I sigh and cross my arms, I didn't want to admit it but he was right. But that still dosent mean I had to kill her. "There's only been two winners a few times. They've all ended in tragedy.. anyways, you hungry kid? You looked like me when I was a kid. Poor, small and beat up."

I nod feriously. This lady is ordered to bring us food. I look at her, why is she so quiet? Is she mute? I don't wanna be rude. I look at my mentor and try not to be loud, "What's her name?" "Oh her? She's just an avox... that's what we all call them." "But why dosent she talk?" He swiftly changes the subject and I'm left confused. "Anyways, seeking of names, I'm Twill Wheelbarrow." He smirks, the first time I've seen him do that.

I'm soon distracted by the avox lady, bring a whole tray of delicous food. Food I havent even seen my whole life. Ana comes back in and she sits next to me. We both dig in and gobble down our food like we are starving. I mean, we were. Sunshine looks in disgust like we were lower lifeforms, "Ugh, I can't wait until I get promoted to a better district."

Me and Ana look at eachother and roll our eyes, Ana mumbles under her breath "Bitch." I chuckle and smile for the first time since the goodbyes. Sunshine looks offended and crosses her arms. Twill laughs, I think even the avox would laugh if she could.

After that, me and Ana separate again, apparently our mentors wanted to talk with us about our strategies separately.

Twill lights a cigarette and I watch him until he finally says something, "What are you good at kiddo?" I think about it for a second, "Well I can sew." I shrug. He sighs and puffs smoke in the air. I was use to it so it didn't bother me, "So you have any survival skills? Do you know how to fight? Can you run fast?" I sink in my chair, "Well I am told by my brother that I run like a bat straight outta hell." I feel a tinge of sadness when I _mention_ him.

"Mmm, we can work with that. Now let's talk about the real important stuff. Don't do stupid things." I raise my eyebrow, "What do you mean by that?" I sit up straight and put my arms on the table, "Well son, for one don't run towards a damn bloodbath." "But what about the supp-" "Dammit, most district 8 tributes die from the bloodbath or the night of it. It's too dangerous, maybe you can make it sense you're fast but I doubt it."

I frown slightly, "Ooh... but won't I die of hunger or thirst if I don't get supplies? What if I get cold?" Twill puts the cigarette out, "Well alot of that depends on the Arena. But, you could steal supplies when the tributes are asleep." I nod, "Oh. But what if they wakeup or the careers find me?" "Run like hell or you are dead meat for sure. The careers are way too strong for most tributes to take on, and most tributes will probably be older then you." I move uncomfortably in my seat, I was starting to feel like I was really going to die. Like I had a zero percent chance. "So you're basically saying I don't have that good of a chance." "No, everyone has a good enough of a chance."

Twill gets up, "Remember this Jute, the biggest and baddest tribute dosent always win." Ana and her mentor walk in. I stand up and walk towards Ana, we hold hands.

I see a bunch of people with awful hair and weird sense of stye waving and yelling at us. I just try to smile back and wave, "Ana be friendly, we don't want them to resent us." Ana sighs and starts to wave, she lifts mine and her hand up for all to see.

"You guys are naturals already."


	4. Chariot ride

Chariot

I look at myself in the mirror. My stylist, Athens, thought it would be a good idea to make me look like a cute little factory child. I'm wearing a bucket hat with jewls on it. I'm wearing a collard shirt with suspenders on. I was covered in makeup from head to two, which felt really strange. My blemishes were gone and so we're the smudges of dirt ingrained in my skin. I have rosey red cheeks now.

I walk out of the room and see many other tributes walking around and talking, I guess I should talk to them. But I'm a bit nervous. I see a skinny boy with glasses standing alone. He had this weird silver thing on his head and body. I walk up to him, "Hey. I'm Jute Libra, district 8." He looks me up and down, then smiles, "Andrew Pickles. District 3." He puts his hand out and I shake it.

"I hate this thing my stupid stylist is making me wear. It itches." Andrew scratches his neck and scoffs, "Well, you're lucky! I look like a baby." Andrew shrugs, "Nahh."

Soon I'm taken to my chariot with Ana and boy did she looked so pretty, "You look great." I say while grinning ear to ear. She blushes and smiles, "You don't look so bad yourself, Judy." We get into the chariot and we start to make our way down.

I look up and see many colorful people waving and screaming at us to say the least. Ana lifts my hand up with her and we wave it around. We both smile and they seem to like it since they threw flowers at us. I look up and see the president looking down on us, president Snows grandaughter. She was the only one of the Snows left alive until, she had a baby with a victor from 4. She's ruthless and punishes the districts because of what the rebellion did with her family. She lost her humanity.

After the parade me and Ana go to our mentors, Twill puts his hand on both of our shoulders and says, "You guys were great out there."

We walk into this really tall building, it's nothing like i've ever seen before. I'm escorted to a beautiful pent house, "Oh my gosh this is amazing!" Ana sequels and looks around, I was amazed too at how lavish it was. Sunshine smiles, "Let me show you your rooms." We follow her and see two rooms named, "D8M and D8F." "Ah, I know you two will just love it here. You guys have fresh clothes in your rooms." She goes away and Ana looks at me, "I'm going to take a shower. Ooh the hot water will feel so good against my skin!" She runs in her room and I go into mine. I could so get use to this place.

Forgetting that I was going to have to kill other kids, I had the best sleep in my life. 


	5. Training day

I stand in front of the crowd of tributes, if I stood in the back I wouldn't be able to see. A normal looking woman was in the middle and talking about the rules and giving us some tips. She says things like, "Many of you will die from natural causes, I suggest you study the survival stations." And, "No fighting, you'll be doing plenty of that in the arena and if you do fight there will be major consequences." After she finishes talking, she leaves and everyone goes there seperate ways.

Someone puts their hand on my shoulder and I quickly turn around, then get relived when I see that it's Ana. Ana puts her arm around my shoulder, "Hey little buddy." She smiles at me. I don't say anything back, because I notice a very little boy crying and rocking himself in a corner. I feel bad for him, everyone's just staring at him and not doing anything to help him. What's worse is, I just do the same.

"Judy..?" She notices what I'm looking at and frowns, "Are we just gonna stand there or help him?" She walks over to him and I follow. The little guy looks up at her, his big blue eyes showing deep sadness. He suddenly screams and I jump back, "We are all going to die! I'm going to die! I'm going to die! Don't you understand that?! I want my sister!" Ana hugs him and hushes him in a motherly way, "Shh, it's gonna be okay. We'll protect you. What's your name sweetheart?" He sniffles, "J-June."

Ana makes him get up and he clings onto her like a toddler, "Come on. You have to be strong." Ana says softly. June nods and let's her go, "I'm sorry. I just miss my sister." I smile a bit, "It's fine. By the way, I'm Jute and she's Ana. Now let's go to the snares section."

We walk to the snares section and mess around with the traps. I notice that theres only one other person at the snares section, the tall girl from 12. June grins ear to ear, "Hey guys. I just figured out how to make a trap that hangs someone from their foot." Ana smiles, "Ooh, how?" "Well," He shows us how and we all clap.

"Guys, can we go to the weapons section now?" June asks, while gleeming at the careers and everyone around the weapons section. I answer nervously, I don't like being too close to the strong tributes, "How about we go another day?" "Okay."

After all that is done, we are taken to a lunch room with tons of delicous food and I mean TONS. We sit down at our own table with all types of foods, none of us say anything while eating. I eat so much that I feel sick, "Oh my god that was soo good. Mmm." I rub my stomach. Ana giggles, "You have food on your face. Let me get that for you." She grabs a napkin and wipes the food of my face, I just grin and blush. June laughs, "Awww, how cute." "Shut up." I laugh too.

The big muscular blonde boy from distict 1 sits down next to June. His distict partner makes a disgusted face, "Gold, why are you sitting next to that little sissy faggot?" June just holds his head down. He turns his head, "Now, Jewel don't be such a bitch. Sit your sexy ass down." She crosses her arms, "Whatever Gold! Ugh!" She sits down next to Gold. I'm frozen unable to say anything. Ana rolls her eyes, "What do you guys want?" Gold smirks, "I thought you'd never ask cutie. Well, how would you guys like to be allies?" Jewel screams, "What?! The group never agreed on this!" "Actually, we agreed too this while you were in the bathroom." Jewel shuts up then and just stares us down with a look that could kill.

We all discuss it for a second and then Ana gives them a very firm no. They cuss among eachother and sit down with the rest of the careers. I'm now very parnoid, the careers must hate us now, "They are going to target us now.." Ana shakes her head, "We aren't a threat to them. They wont." I think about it for a few seconds and realize that it makes the most sense, "Oh you're right.."

Soon we are all told to leave and go to our rooms. Me and Ana walk to our penthouse and open the door, our mentor greets us right when we walk in, "So how did your first day of training go?" "Oh it went well for the most part. We have a new ally, his name is June and he's the boy from district 9."

Twill keeps a straight face, "Damn that kid? He's weak." Ana shrugs, "I promised to protect him. Where's Silk?" Twill shakes his head, "She's watching Captiol news." Ana leaves and goes into the living room. Twill looks down on me, "No more damn allies, you understand?" I nod, "Yeah. I'll make sure of it."

I walk into the living room and plop down on the couch, another day in the capitol down. A day closer to a battle to the death. 


	6. Days gone by

After the 1st day, we trained 3 days after that. On the 2nd and 3rd day we focused on weapons and sparring. Lori, the lady from before, whipped June up to shape. On the fourth day we learned how to build a shelter and make a fire, and many other things. Our alliance is three strong and we denied a request from Andrew to join our alliance. I felt bad about it but it was the right thing to do. Now was the big test, the private sessions and the interviews. I have goosebumps and icy pricks down my spine. After Ana finishes her session it's my turn, I just know I won't get a good score. I'm too young.

I sigh and my legs shake. I dont even worry about the other tributes still there. I wish Ana was here to hug me, we always help eachother when we are scared. She comes out of the room, "I wish you luck." She leaves and I breath in deeply then walk in.

The gamemmakers look down at me, I can tell they are annoyed by the look on their faces. They give me the signal to start and I show them everything I can. I show them my knife skills, what I learned at the snares station, and my survival skills. Once I got started I forgot I was even being watched, which was good because I would probably break out in tears if I was more aware.

After I'm finished I run out the room and the girl from 9 goes in. I look at June and give him a thumbs up, "Show them your skills buddy."

When everyone's done we sits around the tv in the penthouse to see the scores. I hug Ana, "I hope I did good." "You probably did fine." She keeps her eyes glued on the tv. Soon the scores are announced in district order.  
Gold gets an 11 and Jewel gets an 10. Pretty normal for careers. District 2 Male gets an 10 and his partner gets an 9. District 3 has pretty low scores, with Andrew getting a 3 and his district partner getting a 2. That made me feel better about saying no to him. District 4's tributes both get an 8. They are the weakest of the careers, as usual. District 5 Male gets a 5 and the girl gets a 6. Pretty normal. District 6 Male was huge so it wasn't suprising to see him get an 8. District 6 Female got an 4 though. District 7 Male was weird though, he got a 1. District 7 female did much better and got a 7.

Now for the moment of truth, my name and face flashes on the screen with a score of 5. I was expecting to get much lower so I was happy. Twill smiles, "That's great Judy." Sunshine and Athens clap and smile. Soon Ana's score comes up and it's a 6. Ana smiles and yells, "Yes!" Her mentor hugs her, "That's alot better then last year's scores."

Now it was district 9's turn. The distict 9 female got an 3. After that, I stare at the screen, hoping June got a decent score. He actually got a 7, which shocked everyone in the room. I thought he would get a 5 at most. District 10 Male got a 2 and the girl got a 5. District 11 Male got an 3 and his partner got a 7. Now finally district 12, the boy got a 8 and the girl got a 8. Very unusually high scores for district 12.

The room feels less tense after that and everyone's calmer. Athens looks at both of us, "Ooh I know you two are excited for the interviews." "I guess." I say. Ana just stays quiet.

He takes us back into the room we were in the beginning. Ana went into another room. I say in a whiny voice, "Please tell me you don't have to wax my legs again." Athens chuckles, "No sweetheart. I just want you to put on this blue suit." The suit glistened in the light. It was top notch. Better then any other suit i've ever had. He hands it to me. I start taking my shirt off, "Can you turn around please." "Mhm." He turns around and I quickly put on the suit, "Can I turn around now?" "Yes." Athens faces me and puts a grey hat on top of my head, "Oh you just look adorable with hats. Now I have to attend to Ana." He hurries out of the room and I'm left all alone.

I study myself in the mirror and hurry out the room. I spot a jet black headed small little boy and realize it's June. I run to him and hug him. He screams and I let him go, "Woah you scream like a girl." I tease. June crosses his arms and turns red from embarrassment, "You scared me!" He sounded angry which threw me off, "I was just playing around." June shakes his head, "Ugh. It's just that ever since i've gotten my score the careers have been eyeing me down. Look." His eyes trail off to the left and I look there, Jewel and the district 2 boy are staring at us like a fresh piece of meat.

"Ohh I see, um. Let's just go." I say that as Ana comes out the room and looks lost, she has makeup and a ruby red dress on. She looked so pretty, I was getting caught in her glistening blue eyes. June shakes me, "Dude! Stop staring at your girlfiriend." I snap out of it and "Uhh." Is the only thing I can say. Ana runs to us and hugs us both, "Oh June you did great! Your score was awesome." June smiles, "It was nothing." She let's go, "Now I can't be the only one that's nervous." She still smiles.

One thing that I admire about her is that she can smile through mostly everything. I wish I was like that. June shakes his head, "I'm pretty nervous. All the capitolites are going to be staring at me." "I'm nervous too." I say quickly.

Soon everyone's finished and we make a line according to our districts. It's male female male female. I get butterflies in my stomach, "Shit." I whisper.

I start looking at the tv to get my mind of of myself. The first tribute goes on and the very charming and flamboyant host, Roman Flaremen grins ear to ear with his golden teeth. The screen behind him was golden and his whole style was of the color of gold. Last year it was purple. It changes every year.

Gold waved to the crowd while walking in, having a devious smirk on his face. Roman kissed Gold's hand when he sat down and smiled. Golds interview seemed to go great because the crowd just ate it up. I think it was because of his devishly handsome looks.

PHILLIP'S POV

Everyone was in the square watching the interviews. Including me, my girlfriend is holding my hand. Ana's family is standing close to us. This usually happens every year. The families of the unfortunate children grieve together, even though their children aren't dead yet. My father was comforting my mother, she had been a wreak after Jute was reaped. She didn't eat, she barely spoke. She looked halfway dead. She can't handle losing her little boy. I can hardly bear it either, but I have to stay strong.

The only really memorable interviews that happen before Jute's are District 1, district 2, and the boy from district 7. When Judy goes on everyone holds their breath. The annoying host asks him a few questions and he responds shyly. But the crowd really gets excited when he says he has feelings for Ana. I always knew he would develop feelings for her, that wasn't much of a suprise. But the capitol eats that shit up. Dumbasses.

After Ana's interview I don't pay too much attention. She was alot more happy and energetic then Judy, it's always been like that though. The crowd loved district 8, because of a love story. I find it ridiculous but whatever increases my brothers chances, I'll accept.

JUTE'S POV

After the interviews me and Ana had a sweet kiss. Her lips were so hot and warm. I can't stop thinking about it even now laying in my bed. Twill and I started talking about strategy more. He said we have to make it seem like we're doing everything out of love, fake it till we make it. But I think I may actually love her. Maybe I'm just being silly. I can't be in love while going into a battle to a death. I yawn, "Whatever. I'll know when the time comes." I drift of into sleep and dream about my home in district 8.

FINALLY SO CLOSE TO THE GAMES. YASS 


	7. The games start

Athens takes me to my pod, "Good luck Jute. Break a leg. Well not literally." I nod and step into my pod. I have an jacket and pants on. He smiles at me while I go up.

I go up into a humid, hot climate. I look around and surrounding the jungle themed cornucopia is an rain forest. I was sweating already, Lori wasn't kidding when she said exposure would kill the most in these games. I look around for Ana and June. Luckily June is right next to me but Ana is further away. June looks at me and smirks, he already has his leg out to run. The careers are staring at everyone menacingly. I take my mind off of them and look at the captavating supplies at the Cornucopia. Twill said it wasn't worth it but the supplies look so good. I'm not a survival expert so i'm going to need them. Maybe I could just go around the outer ring of the Cornucopia.

I start to focus on the count down and get ready to run. 20..19…18..17..16…15…14..13…12..11….10…9…8..7…6…5…4…3…2…1

The gong sounds and I rush in with June. We stay close to eachother, safety in numbers. While June goes in for a spear in the Cornucopia, I notice the district 6 male brutally slice the neck of the district 4 girl. She stumbles around for a bit and falls onto her district partner. Dead. Just like that. By that time the small boy from district 7 was already dead by a swift knife stab to the skull. By the time I snap out of my daze I see Apricot approaching me with an sword.

Suddenly a spear goes through him, he falls and coughs up blood all over me. I see June. He just saved my life. June gives me a knife and puts Apricots bag over his shoulder and yells, "Jute we have to go!" I get up and I run but trip over the dead body of the district 12 male. Jewel is fighting with the district 12 female right beside me. I quickly get up while I hear the blood curdling screams of that poor girl. I run after June as fast as I can until my legs couldn't take me any further. We eventually stopped on a fallen tree branch and catch our breaths. I look around and take in how beautiful everything is.

"Don't touch anything colorful. It's probably poisonous." June says and I turn to face him, "I wasn't going to…" June sets his spear down. He looks into the bag and pulls out everything in it, "So what do we got?" I say while taking my jacket off, the temperature was making me sweat bullets. He looks at everything for an moment, "Well. We got throwing knifes, several packs of crackers, an empty water bottle and a filter." I sigh, "Not too bad.."

We don't speak much for a few minutes. I finally say something, "We need to find Ana. She's out there all alone." June stands up and looks around, "She could be dead. We can't go looking right now. We need to set up base." "Wouldn't that be too obvious though?" "Well..we can't sleep out in the open. That's just dumb." "I guess your right." "We need to get some sticks and leafs." "Who made you the boss, little guy?" I say to try to lighten the mood. June squints and looks at me, "Ugh, shut up and do it."

We go off and he gathers leafs while I gather sticks, "How do we know this isn't poisonous?" "Because it isn't irratating my skin." We quickly build the shelter up and make it as comfortable as we can, which isn't much. The cannons start booming, there's 10 single booms. There's only 12 tributes left. I've made in past the bloodbath. I can do this. Soon it's night before we even know it. It has gotten alot cooler, it's actually doable now. There is a fire in the distance. We soon hear a girls screams and laughs. A cannon booms not even a minute later. I motion to June to hide and he quickly does. Luckily no one comes in our direction.

After a few minutes of hiding we come out and my heart beats out of my chest. If they came where we were we could have been killed. The sky lights up, I look up into it. It says "The fallen" The only tribute I really talked to or knew was Andrew. It sadened me to see his dorky face in the sky. When it was over I realize that Ana hadn't been shown. That means she's still alive.. I smile. My first real smile all day. 


	8. A Whole new day

I open my eyes and sit up, my back was sore and my head is thumping. I groan and my lips bleed, they were already cracked and my mouth is so dry. I shake June until he wakes up, "We need to get some water. My head hurts so bad." June nods, "My head hurts too.. shit.." He rubs his temple and we crawl out of our makeshift shelter, "We could get lost." June says while sticking a long stick into the ground, I guess to mark our territory, "We'll die soon without water." I say while throwing the spear to Jute and throwing the bag over my shoulder.

I take the knife out and start walking. It seems like we walk forever until we hear some rustling in the bushes, "What was that?" I say quickly and stop dead in my tracks, "I'll see what it is." June cautiously walks up to the bush and I hold my breath. A girl jumps out of the bushes and tackles June, making him scream. She has a knife to his throat and I realize it's his district partner.

"Oliver! What are you doing!" He screams and I run towards them. Oliver smiles, "Come close to him and I'll slit his throat." I stop and stare at her, "Why are you doing this?" "You killed my ally! Apricot." "He tried to kill me!" "So what? I don't care." Our screaming and yelling brought some other people. I turn around and notice it's careers.

Gold laughs, "This is pathetic." Oliver quickly gets up and tries to run away. The boy next to him swiftly throws a knife into her skull. The cannon booms and she falls onto the ground. I back away slowly and June picks up his spear and gets up, "What are you going to do with that little boy? It's 2 against 4." "June run!"

He stumbles and runs as fast as he can. I run after him and I hear them running behind us. We are obviously faster then them. I see a lake in the distance and quickly push June into the bush. I throw myself into them too. We don't speak and stay in there for awhile. They never come near the bush. I walk out of the bush and grab June's hand and pull him up.

"That was a close call. I always knew something was off with Oliver." "Good thing we don't have to worry about her now." June nods and looks into the distance. We run towards the water and I put my bag on the ground, "Good no one's around." Suddenly the cannon booms again and I jump, "Another one down." June sighs and takes the bottle and filter out of the bag "You know Judy?" "Yeah?" I look at him while filtering the water into the bottle, "I lost my sister in these games. My mother lost her cousin to it. Now im going to die to it. I think my family just has bad luck." "My mother says when you get old you will always know some kid who dies in the games. But I'm sorry for your losses." June just sighs.

I quickly take gulp down the water in the bottle until June yells at me, "Hey leave some for me man!" He snatches it and gulps the rest down, "Ahh. I needed that." I collect more water until we are satisfied and get more for later. Once we are finished someone screams and I turn my head quickly. A girl stumbles out the jungle, bloody and falls onto the ground.

We rush over to her and once I see her face I realize it's Ana, "Ana! Oh my god!" I start crying and I kiss her lips while hugging her. Judy smiles, "Oh Ana!" I let her go and she opens her eyes, "J-Judy." She stampers then passes out again, "We need to get help her quick!" He nods and I throw the bag to him. I rip a piece of my shirt off and wrap it around Ana's wound. I pick her up and we go as quickly as we can back to our base.

When we finally get there I lay her on the ground and put my hand on her hand, "She's burning up. Shit! Shit! Please send us some medicine!" I scream, "Shh." Suddenly there's a beeping nose and a little parachute falls out the sky. 


End file.
